Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ annual Recognition Celebration of its employees ended up making history on Thursday — as the district named the first ever two-time winner of Teacher of the Year.
Jessie Grinnell, an English Language Arts teacher at C & L McDougle Middle School, earned the honor for the 2024-25 school year out of CHCCS’ 19 school-specific teachers of the year. Grinnell was previously celebrated as the district’s Teacher of the Year in 2016-17 while teaching at Culbreth Middle School, and she has now taught for 13 years.
“My mission here,” Grinnell said to the crowd after winning the award, “is to tell teachers that sometimes it gets really hard and sometimes you get down. But if you stop, and you take a breath, and you start saying yes to the things that bring you joy, and reaching out to the people who love you…you can make it far for yourself, and for your students, and for your school and families and everyone who loves you.”
Beyond her Teacher of the Year titles, Grinnell has also earned recognition with the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Excellence in Equitable Teaching Award and held the Neil Pedersen Teachers First Chair for Excellence in Classroom Technology. She serves on the district’s Instructional Planning Team and the Science of Reading for Secondary Teachers Implementation Team. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in English from UNC-Chapel Hill prior to earning her teaching certification through UNC-Wilmington.
Jessica Grinnell of C & L McDougle Middle School poses after winning CHCCS’ 2025 Teacher of the Year honor. (Photo via Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.)
As part of the award, Grinnell received a $1,000 check from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation. The two other district finalists — Elizabeth Angell, a gifted specialist at Scroggs Elementary, and McDougle Elementary fifth grade teacher Stephon Goode — each received $500 checks from the organization, while all school-based teachers of the year received $100 checks.
Grinnell will now be elevated to compete for the Teacher of the Year in the North Central region, which will be announced later in the summer. Should she win that award as well, the English Language Arts educator would then be a nominee for the state-wide North Carolina Teacher of the Year award.
Video of the 2025 CHCCS Recognition Celebration ceremony can be watched in full on the district’s YouTube channel.
Featured image via Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
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